Effect of speaker leads on tone

[Botch]

Do they make much of a difference? I fully appraciate that guitar leads make a noticeable difference and therefore I always use Cordial cables. However I've always used a cheap Marshall speaker cable for my Recto. I was wondering if it would be worth upgrading?

 

[ibanez4life SZ!]

I use expensive speaker cables for their reliability. If a speaker cable goes, you completely leave your output transformer and other components open for easy damage. I'm not willing to risk that. I bought the high end monster cables, as they were readily available, and they've been serving me well for years!

 

[canyongargon]

I use the shortest speaker cables possible just as a matter of principle. Honestly, I doubt there's going to be any terribly noticable difference between speaker cables... perhaps if you pitted the cheapest cable ever against the most expensive cable ever, you'd be able to tell a difference, but otherwise, probably not.

 

[GD_NC]

I just upgraded my old 16ga generic cables to a nice set of heavy duty 12ga Livewire cables a couple of weeks ago. They look considerably sturdier, but I don't notice much difference in the sound.

 

[KH Guitar Freak]

Length for length, a speaker cable yields IMHO far greater tonal improvement over the instrument cable...

 

[emperor_black]

At considerable loud volume, with my Mark IV and a 1x12 closed back cab with Celestion V30, I noticed absolutely no difference between a $5.99 6 ft. Ernie Ball cable vs a 3ft. Monster cable which was worth 3 time more if I remember correctly.

However, the difference between a 6 ft. Livewire instrument cable and a 10 ft. planet waves instrument cable in the front of the amp was a night and day difference. So, I would say no, speaker cables dont do so much difference.

 

[KH Guitar Freak]

At considerable loud volume, with my Mark IV and a 1x12 closed back cab with Celestion V30, I noticed absolutely no difference between a $5.99 6 ft. Ernie Ball cable vs a 3ft. Monster cable which was worth 3 time more if I remember correctly.

However, the difference between a 6 ft. Livewire instrument cable and a 10 ft. planet waves instrument cable in the front of the amp was a night and day difference. So, I would say no, speaker cables dont do so much difference.

I wouldn't trust Monster cables if I was you. There are plenty of other good cables to be had out there at cheaper prices, and arguably some are better sounding as well...

 

[emperor_black]

I wouldn't trust Monster cables if I was you. There are plenty of other good cables to be had out there at cheaper prices, and arguably some are better sounding as well...

I hear you. I needed a cable real fast and these were the cheapest ones available in Guitar center at that time. This is my first and last monster purchase...not counting my kids Dinosaurs :lol:

 

[Scary]

Do they make much of a difference? I fully appraciate that guitar leads make a noticeable difference and therefore I always use Cordial cables. However I've always used a cheap Marshall speaker cable for my Recto. I was wondering if it would be worth upgrading?

I noticed a HUGE difference last time I upgraded my cables. Night and day.

 

[fjk1138]

I am sure there are plenty of good non-Monster cable makers out there, and I would never tell anyone they are the end all be all of cables. But...

At the risk of drawing a lot of negative comments, years ago I replace an "el cheapo" one with a 3' Monster Cable. As stated above, the shorter the cable the better. The Monster made a significant difference in terms of sound quality -- overall, the tone was cleaner (even when fully driven) and sounds better overall. That was almost 6 years ago, and I have never had a problem since.

No matter what brand of cable you decide on, it's probably worth spending a little bit of money now for better tone and longevity, at least in my opinoin.

 

[KH Guitar Freak]

I am sure there are plenty of good non-Monster cable makers out there, and I would never tell anyone they are the end all be all of cables. But...

At the risk of drawing a lot of negative comments, years ago I replace an "el cheapo" one with a 3' Monster Cable. As stated above, the shorter the cable the better. The Monster made a significant difference in terms of sound quality -- overall, the tone was cleaner (even when fully driven) and sounds better overall. That was almost 6 years ago, and I have never had a problem since.

No matter what brand of cable you decide on, it's probably worth spending a little bit of money now for better tone and longevity, at least in my opinoin.

No problems with forming an opinion that is sound. Yeah, them Monster cables would sound better than those cheap generic ones. However, what I was getting really with my previous comment is that Monster cables in general, when it comes to ratio of improvement in tone to the amount the cables cost, they seems to be not a lot better than other good quality cables out there, not to mention sometimes they do sound worst for more money...

 

[GD_NC]

I am sure there are plenty of good non-Monster cable makers out there, and I would never tell anyone they are the end all be all of cables. But...

At the risk of drawing a lot of negative comments, years ago I replace an "el cheapo" one with a 3' Monster Cable. As stated above, the shorter the cable the better. The Monster made a significant difference in terms of sound quality -- overall, the tone was cleaner (even when fully driven) and sounds better overall. That was almost 6 years ago, and I have never had a problem since.

No matter what brand of cable you decide on, it's probably worth spending a little bit of money now for better tone and longevity, at least in my opinoin.

No problems with forming an opinion that is sound. Yeah, them Monster cables would sound better than those cheap generic ones. However, what I was getting really with my previous comment is that Monster cables in general, when it comes to ratio of improvement in tone to the amount the cables cost, they seems to be not a lot better than other good quality cables out there, not to mention sometimes they do sound worst for more money...

+1 The high end Livewire cables seem every bit a good as the Monster Cables for half the price (or less).

 

[KH Guitar Freak]

For me, I'm having my entire rig cabled up with Evidence Audio cables...

 

[mikey383]

I've been using a 25' generic speaker cable for years now. I then cut the cord off an old vacuum cleaner and wired some plugs to it. No difference. I bought a shload of Monster speaker cable with "time coherent windings" for $.25 a foot (the ONLY reason I bought it, I hate Monster) and put some plugs on it....no difference.

There really isn't a difference in speaker cable, unless you're using a small gauge and go to a larger gauge, or less footage.

 

[MrMarkIII]

Absolutely no difference. Don't waste your money. You just need higher gauge (lower numbers = thicker cable) for long cable runs, like 50 feet.

 

[KH Guitar Freak]

Like I said, better not trust them Monster cables...

 

[fishyfishfish]

I have a really expensive, thick speaker cable, and I made one out of lamp cord. I cannot tell any difference in tone, sound, volume.

 

[KH Guitar Freak]

I have a really expensive, thick speaker cable, and I made one out of lamp cord. I cannot tell any difference in tone, sound, volume.

I dont know about that. I wouldn't use an expensive, thick speaker cable to power your lamp...

 

[emperor_black]

I have a really expensive, thick speaker cable, and I made one out of lamp cord. I cannot tell any difference in tone, sound, volume.

I dont know about that. I wouldn't use an expensive, thick speaker cable to power your lamp...

Maybe he wants to power one of these... :wink:

 

[Botch]

Hi, thanks for all the info and opinions! From what I can gather, changing the speaker lead will either make no difference at all or will have a night and day difference in sound! I guess I'll just keep the same cheap one for now then!